Failure is not an option

The same PE firm called when they did a carve out of 13 hydroelectric facilities on the Connecticut River from a large Canadian energy company. 

This was another asset purchase and we had to stand up a company around the assets and we had about 6 months. 

The Problem

• This required a complete infrastructure replacement including circuits. New circuits were needed at every location and in order to meet the cut over date, those circuits needed to be installed by March 1. The provider laughed because they didn't begin installations until April 1, because the ground is still frozen. 
• With that delay worked into the plan, the new network infrastructure was being architected and discussions were underway for the cut over. However, the Canadian energy company informed us that in no way would we be able to test the networks in parallel because that would be a violation of their security policy. 

That meant that on the day of cut over, everything had to work perfectly the first time. I have found that “Divine intervention rarely plays a role in data processing” so the probability of this going live at a full 100 % was not likely to happen. 

Having the right people, at the right place, doing the right things, properly motivated can do almost anything and this was proven right in this case. 

Cut over date went without a hitch and they were fully self-sufficient within 6 months.

Lee is a Speaker, an Author and a Founder of Principal Program & Blackstone & Cullen. They have assembled a team of “A Players” who have the same passion and drive for ensuring client success by providing elegant solutions to hideously complicated problems. You can contact Lee  here.